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Korean War vet donates military gear to teen historian

From left, Will Twomey and Korean War veteran Al de Vito flank de Vito's Marine Corps uniform, helmet, dog tags and other memorabilia he donated to Will for his uniform collection, which was recently on display at the Palm Springs Air Museum.(Photo: Denise Goolsby/The Desert Sun)Buy Photo

One good story leads to another. Or in my fortunate case, “one” has led to nearly half-a-thousand.

Since the autumn of 2009 when I first began writing profiles of local World War II veterans, I’ve strung together hundreds of stories about vets from the WWII-era to the present.

Someone will see one of my military stories, contact me to tip me off about another vet’s compelling tale – and the next story will trigger another e-mail or call – and on and on. That cycle has continued, fairly uninterrupted, for more than seven years.

And sometimes stories bring people together.

I met Will Twomey in April 2016 when the then-15-year-old was exhibiting his impressive collection of military uniforms in the Pacific Hangar at the Palm Springs Air Museum. Every uniform on display – including U.S. Army Gen. Colin Powell’s – was accompanied by a storyboard featuring a biography of that military man or woman.

Will, who lives in Sonoma County and founded the non-profit National Military Archives as a vehicle to preserve and share the stories and artifacts of these service members, displays his collection at museums and veterans centers across the country to “perpetuate veterans’ stories and give many people a sense of connection to some of America’s defining moments.”

After the story ran last year, Marine Corps vet Al De Vito, 87, of Indian Wells, contacted Will and offered the teen his uniform, helmet and medals from the Korean War.

“My wife discovered the article in the newspaper … I had my dress blues just hanging in the closet and I thought maybe he’d like to have them,” Al said while visiting the air museum where Will’s collection – including Al’s uniform and memorabilia -- was on display earlier this year.

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Korean War veteran Al De Vito donated his Marine Corps dress blues and other wartime memorabilia to teen Will Twomey, whose uniform collection was recently on display at the Palm Springs Air Museum.(Photo: Denise Goolsby/The Desert Sun)

“I said, ‘Wow, he’s really going to take good care of these uniforms.’ They really looked good in that picture (in the Desert Sun) – the uniforms … were really neat. That impressed me.”

Will was equally impressed by Al’s offer to donate practically all of his wartime gear – including his dog tags – and mementos including old photos.

“It blew me away,” Will said.

“I said, ‘How would you like my dress blues?’” Al said, recalling his first conversation with the young historian.

“It’s the rarest thing,” said Will. “Most of the time I hear from the niece or the nephew, it’ll be some descendant down the chain. But to hear from the veteran himself, it really blew me away. And he’s on e-mail, too – that blew me away as well. What more motivation does someone need to do something like this than to actually be able to hear the stories from the veterans themselves? I told him I really appreciate it.”

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Military gear including helmet, garrison cap and dog tags donated to Will Twomey by Korean War veteran Al De Vito. Will's collection was recently on display at the Palm Springs Air Museum.(Photo: Denise Goolsby/The Desert Sun)

And Al has a remarkable story. Serving with the 1st Marine Division, 1st Marine Regiment during the Korea War, he fought in the Battle of Chosin Reservoir -- a brutal, 17-day fight in freezing weather against the Chinese 9th Army.

According to historical accounts, an estimated 120,000 Chinese soldiers encircled and attacked 30,000 United Nations troops (later nicknamed “The Chosin Few”), but the UN forces made “a fighting withdrawal and broke out of the encirclement while inflicting heavy losses on the Chinese.” The battle took place from Nov. 27 to Dec. 13, 1950.

Al made the initial landing at Inchon – an amphibious assault invasion of Korea launched on Sept. 15, 1950 under the direction of Gen. Douglas MacArthur. Stepping out of landing ships into a half-foot of mud at lower-than-expected tide, the Marines climbed up and over a wall and headed to a hill held by the North Koreans.

U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Al De Vito served during the Korean War.(Photo: Provided photo)

“There was only one sniper up in the gun tower,” Al said. “I was the first one up over the wall … I stepped up over the wall, there’s barbed wire, and a machine-gunner opened up about six inches in front of my feet. I hit the deck and rolled over. I kept yelling – “Hey, sniper up there! -- in either a smokestack or the side of a building – and I went to fire at him.”

Unfortunately, he broke the crosshairs of his sniper’s rifle when he hit the deck as the bullets started flying.

The men took the hill and went into Seoul, South Korea and recaptured the city from the North Koreans.

A few months later, the Marines were fighting for their lives at Chosin Reservoir.

“We made the landing … and went up the reservoir. It was frozen – you could drive trucks across it. At night, it would get down to about 30 degrees. We didn’t have any cold weather gear. My feet were frozen and they started turning purple.”

“When we went up to the Chosin Reservoir, we still had our jungle gear. They didn’t issue us any cold weather gear. They airdropped parkas and chute packs – it was all green stuff – it wasn’t the white … everybody thinks we wore white uniforms up in the snow. It’s all green. We just grabbed whatever we could.”

U.S. Marine Corps veteran Al De Vito (bottom left) at the Chosin Reservoir during the Korean War.(Photo: Provided photo)

It was touch-and-go during the long, cold battle.

“I’d just wake up and I’d say, ‘Am I gonna live today?’ When I was up in the reservoir, I didn’t sleep too well. Mostly they attacked at night. They’d shoot off flares – they’d attack -- then withdraw. There were so many attacks.”

He received a Marine Corps Commendation Medal with Combat V for Valor for finding ammo and capturing five Korean soldiers, who threw concussion grenades into his foxhole.

“If they were fragment grenades, I wouldn’t be here,” he said. “They sat down behind me and I kept firing (at the approaching enemy). They just sat there – they didn’t have any weapons … so I took them down the hill to headquarters.”

On the way up the hill, he found a load of ammunition.

“I got up there and I opened it up and it was white phosphorous grenades in one – whole case of them and 30-caliber machine gun ammo – I turned them in.”

Al didn’t realize he’d been wounded by the shock waves of the concussion grenades.

“They saw all the blood all over me and they took me to an aid station and the next thing I knew, I woke up in a tent. I passed out.”

He has an 80 percent hearing loss as a result of the blast.

Al's story - which otherwise might never have seen the light of day - is now permanently preserved in Will's collection.

The first uniform

Will received his first uniform as a gift on his 12th birthday. The uniform had been worn by U.S. Army Gen. Fred Mahaffey, one of the youngest four-star generals in the Army in 1986. Will started doing more research about the general and discovered he died of cancer a year after he was promoted – cutting short a career that “was really going up.”

He now has over 30 uniforms – gathered from a variety of sources, including costume stores and thrift shops. He also keeps his eye online, where he has tracked down many items of historical significance.

The highlight of his collection is the dress uniform that once belonged to Powell, a four-star general who would serve as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and later as Secretary of State in the George W. Bush administration.

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Will Twomey stands next to a U.S. Army uniform worn by General Colin Powell. The teen had some of his uniform collection on display recently at the Palm Springs Air Museum.(Photo: Denise Goolsby/The Desert Sun)

The uniform came from a thrift store in Fort Myer, Va.

“The day after he retired, his wife took five of his uniforms there – without him knowing, I later learned,” said Will.

Will is loaning Powell’s uniform to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture, where it will be on display beginning around 2018. It was originally scheduled to go on loan starting in 2017.

“I postponed the loan date one year because in the new Ken Miles hangar (Maj. Gen. Kenneth P. Miles Korean and Vietnam War Hangar), they’re going to have a little case where I’ll be able to rotate out different uniforms and I figured what better for Vietnam to start with than Colin Powell – he has quite the history there. So right after it goes into the new hangar a little bit, I’m going to send it over (to the Smithsonian) in 2018.”

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A U.S. Navy sailor shirt (left) worn by Major League Baseball Hall of Famer Stan Musial was recently on display at the Palm Springs Air Museum.(Photo: Denise Goolsby/The Desert Sun)

Will’s collection includes Major League Baseball Hall of Famer Stan Musial’s white sailor shirt worn during his service in the U.S. Navy, shoulder boards worn by U.S. Navy Vice Admiral James B. Stockdale and his recent acquisition of a uniform worn by U.S. Army Col. George Morgan who fought during the Indian Wars. He was awarded a Medal of Honor for his actions fighting the White Mountain Apache Tribe in the Battle of Big Dry Wash in Arizona Territory in 1882.

Will is always looking to expand his collection – in anticipation of sharing it with others.

“The only requirement I have is that there’s a story behind it,” he said.